Should Sanju Samson finally replace Rishabh Pant in white-ball cricket?
Rishabh Pant, vice-captain and wicketkeeper-batter for the Men in Blue throughout India’s recently completed ODI series against New Zealand, has been under scrutiny for quite some time due to his continued poor form in the white-ball formats. He has earned laurels in the Test format but has not managed to replicate it in the limited-over games.
Pant unable to get going
In the four games that he played during the series, he registered scores of 6, 11, 15, and 10. This ignited the argument over Pant’s selection in the white-ball team. While Sanju Samson was excluded from the second and third games. Though coach VVS Laxman and Shikhar Dhawan shared the reason behind the team management backing Pant, Samson’s exclusion from the second and third games even after putting up a good fight in the first game irked the fans.
Rishabh Pant’s strike rate is respectable. He has played just under 30 games and averages 35. Sanju Samson, though, has a 60-plus average in 11 ODIs. He is also one of the finest wicketkeepers. He has proven himself through his skills whenever he received the opportunity. Simply said, Samson merits a chance.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had backed Pant after a series of poor performances and said that he still looks at him as India’s next captain. He even shared Rohit Sharma’s example, as to how the current Indian skipper developed after taking over the captaincy charge from Ricky Ponting at the IPL while representing Mumbai Indians.
For Pant, it hasn’t shown up that way. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. Pant was given the opportunity to lead the Indian side against South Africa in June, but he managed to score just 58 runs in five T20Is. He constantly attempted to drive left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj’s wide outside off-stump deliveries to the leg side, which led to his dismissals.
Rishabh Pant has great potential, and he proved himself by hitting a century against England earlier this year. But his backing and inclusion in the side have come at the cost of a quality player being dropped out.
Time to trial Samson?
Samson needs opportunities and it is surely is high time that the Indian management starts looking at him. He scores runs when other members of the team fail. Thus, he has created an impact. The question of Sanju Samson replacing Rishabh Pant should be left to the ultimate deciders, but the former’s chances and opportunities should not be snatched away. The team should make arrangements in a way that both Samson and Pant get enough chances. Imagine the two getting in form and playing those beautiful strokes while taking India to a win!
